In a matter of two days, Bethlehem Catholic’s softball team went from rust to gold.
The Golden Hawks went 17 days without playing, but were able to post wins on back-to-back days to record their second straight District 11 Class 3A title, third in four years and eighth district crown overall — all since 1999.
Becahi made Wilson (seen at right) their sixth different District 11 title-game victim from the Colonial League, blanking the upstart Warriors 5-0 on an Elyse Cuttic two-hitter.
The sophomore lefty walked three and struck out nine. She allowed only a single to opposing pitcher Madison Oren in the second and a lead-off hit by Kendra Showalter in the fourth.
“I knew they would hit the ball, but I just tried to move it around because I knew I had a great defense behind me,” Cuttic said. “I also knew we’d hit, eventually.”
The Golden Hawks, who defeated Palmerton 7-1 in Wednesday’s semifinals after not playing since a Lehigh Valley Conference tourney play-in game against Liberty on May 10, were held scoreless until the bottom of the fourth.
That’s when Emily Brandstetter rapped a triple and scored on a two-out single to right by Jean Markovic.
Becahi (17-6) went on to score two more runs in the fifth when Brooke Rau singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ann Li Dietrich and scored on a RBI single by Angelyse Cotto. Cuttic capped the uprising with her own RBI single.
Then in the sixth, Becahi finished with a bang.
Rau, a sophomore, slugged the first home run over the new fence at Patriots Park. It was a two-run shot to left.
“That felt great,” she said. “I was just looking for line drives and hard groundballs, but I got that instead.”
Rau and Cuttic, being 10th-graders, bode well for the future of the Becahi program.
But Rau made sure to salute the seniors who were left in charge of a transitional year after the Golden Hawks graduated six seniors in 2013 who went out with three straight LVC championships.
“The seniors are really the core of the team,” Rau said. “They’re such great supporters and motivators. They’re the reason we’re here. I really appreciate all they do for us.”
Rau also appreciated the opportunity to play back-to-back games after such a long layoff.
She called the 17-day layoff “torture.”
“It was a lot of waiting and there were some nerves wondering whether we’d be ready or rusty,” Rau said. “Coach [Rich] Mazza was real good about keeping us focused. We got in some scrimmages and had a few days off to rest. We came out and knew what we had to do.”
Mazza wasn’t particularly happy about the long gap between games, but said it wasn’t the time to complain.
“Maybe there’s nothing they can do about it; I don’t know,” he said. “It worked out for us, so I guess I better shut up.”
Mazza did give a lot of credit to Wilson and senior pitcher Oren.
“I like that pitcher,” Mazza said. “I thought we were going to hit her eventually, but sometimes you worry when you let teams hang around. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble. They’re a nice team. And the Colonial League is a lot better than people give them credit for. There are some weak teams, but there’s also some strong teams.”
Becahi has scrimmaged 2A champ Pen Argyl and Mazza said “We always have a battle with them.”
He expects a battle when the PIAA state tournament begins on Monday. The Golden Hawks will play District 3’s No. 3 team (either Lampeter-Strasburg or Kennard-Dale who play today) in a 5 p.m. game at Parkland.
Becahi reached the state finals in 2009 and lost in the second round last year.
“These kids are funny,” Mazza said. “You never know what’s going to happen. In 2009, I never thought we’d go as far as we did. Sometimes everything comes together and if that happens, look out.”
In any case, the Golden Hawks are in good hands.
“We have some good kids coming back and some nice freshmen coming into the program from our Little Hawks team, so we’re going to be OK,” Mazza said.
And Wilson, which finished 16-7, is also in good hands going forward.
“We continued to build over the past three years with these seniors,” Warriors coach Sara Ulrich said while fighting back tears. “The first time it was just getting in the district tournament and then it was winning one game, which we did last year. And now it was getting to the district finals. We have continually improved.
“I am so proud of these girls, especially the seniors. It was a privilege to coach them. It was nice for them to out with a district medal. A medal is a medal.”
Wilson 000 000 0 — 0 2 0
Bethlehem Cath. 000 122 x – 5 9 0
Oren and Devyn Losco; Cuttic and Markovic. HR: Becahi, Rau (6th, 1 on).
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